Pocatello, city, seat (1893) of Bannock county, southeastern Idaho, U.S., in the Portneuf River valley. Originally an intermontane stopover point on the Oregon Trail, it was settled in 1882 and named for a Shoshone Bannock Indian leader who granted rights-of-way to the railroads, surrendering a large portion of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation to do so. The settlement grew slowly at first because of its location on the reservation. The opening of the reservation to settlement in 1902 provided impetus for development, and Pocatello became a prominent railway depot on the Union Pacific line between Omaha, Nebraska, and Portland, Oregon. Bearing the nickname “Gate City,” it developed as a processing and distribution centre for an irrigated agricultural area, with trucking augmenting rail freight transportation. The community expanded industrially with the acquisitions in the 1940s of a large naval ordnance plant and a phosphate reduction works. In 1962 it annexed Alameda. During the 1990s the city experienced rapid growth by embracing high technology. The city is the seat of Idaho State University (1901). It is the headquarters for the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Inc. village, 1889; city, 1893. Pop. (2000) 51,466; Pocatello Metro Area, 83,103; (2010) 54,255; Pocatello Metro Area, 90,656.

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